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What To Expect At Xbox's E3 2019 Presentation
Xbox is preparing to bring 14 first-party games to E3 this year, along with plenty of third-party titles and hopefully more news about its next-gen console hardware. With Sony out of the way and companies like EA holding their own livestreams instead of keynotes, the path to convention domination looks like a smooth road for Microsoft. Alongside a number of big-ticket items already confirmed for the Xbox keynote along with news about some highly-anticipated games making the rounds, we're expecting great things from the Xbox E3 2019 presentation.
Nintendo has kept its E3 plans mostly under wraps. While we're likely going to be seeing more of Sword & Shield at E3 after the recent Pokemon Direct revealing the nuts and bolts of the games, that's all that's really confirmed for the company. The Xbox E3 camp is the one with most of its potential presentation topics already either leaked or officially confirmed.
XBOX E3 2019: GAME PASS AND HARDWARE NEWS
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This was confirmed to be a souped-up version of the current Xbox Game Pass system, and it'll reportedly deliver over 100 games as well as online multiplayer as part of this service. We expect that the presentation is going to go into further detail about the other features that will be a part of the Game Pass Ultimate, most likely with announcements about the titles that are going to be available to access and any multiplayer quality-of-life improvements on Xbox Gold.
The Xbox PC app has also been rebranded recently as well to the Xbox Console Companion, which could mean news about how Game Pass Ultimate and this new iteration of the app are going to function. On the hardware front, we would also be expecting to hear about the next-gen consoles that Xbox have on the frontlines. After this year's less than impactful Xbox One S All-Digital launch and lukewarm reception, Microsoft will likely be looking to redeem itself on the hardware front especially after Sony has been firing on all cylinders about the PlayStation 5 and its processing power in the lead-up to E3.
XBOX E3 2019: GAME STUDIOS TITLES
We already know that a handful of titles are confirmed to make an appearance at the Xbox E3 presentation: Gears 5, Halo Infinite, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. With confirmation from head honcho, Phil Spencer, that 14 Xbox Game Studios titles will be shown during the conference, this leaves the floor wide open for speculation about other games that are going to make an appearance outside of the big three that have captured the media's attention this year.
For one, Fable 4 has been listed as being part of E3 this year on Mixer. With Forza Horizon developers working on the title now and it being folded into the Microsoft Studios collection makes it a likely candidate for the Xbox show; the franchise has incredibly passionate fans who have been waiting a long time for news about this sequel, and it's sure to be a crowd favorite.
The Outer Worlds is another candidate for a big Xbox E3 announcement. This Obsidian RPG has been talked about for a hot minute ever since the demo that was shown off at PAX East, and Microsoft will most likely be keen to show off its latest acquisitions. This means that Wasteland 3 is potentially on the cards as well as one of those 14 titles, thanks to InXile Entertainment being part of that acquisition drive.
We also expect a bunch of previously unmentioned titles to show up on the radar; there'll almost certainly be entirely new projects that Microsoft has been working on which it'll want to flex, and it'll have a whole 2-hour show to do so.
XBOX E3 2019: HALO INFINITE
Out of all the titles that have been confirmed as having an Xbox E3 presence, Halo Infinite is probably the one that fans are the hungriest for. Sure, it'll be nice to hear about the Master Chief Collection for PC, but the next entry in Microsoft's beloved franchise has been years in the making. E3 would be the perfect time to reveal a trailer for the game after all the images that we've been teased with so far, and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to expect that we'd also get a gameplay demo; that would be the perfect time for new Xbox hardware to be shown off.
There's been almost nothing confirmed about the scope of Halo Infinite out there aside from it being a "spiritual reboot", and a gameplay demo being on the cards would certainly help flesh the game out. The Xbox E3 presentation could really end up showing anything from players going head to head against each other in a multiplayer map (a la Forza Horizon 7 at E3 2017), to a general reveal trailer packed with cutscenes. The fact that Microsoft has been so tight-lipped about Halo Infinite in the lead-up to the event likely suggests that they have something large on the cards.
XBOX E3 2019: PROJECT XCLOUD
Last but not least, we'd expect to hear about Project xCloud, which Microsoft had been previously touting as a 'Netflix for games'. While Microsoft xCloud appears to have been in the works for some time, it hasn't really had a lot of time devoted to it after it was first announced last year. The company revealed that the service would allow people to play Xbox games on their mobile devices, but the Netflix comparison could speak to a more consistent streaming game service, potentially with tie-ins to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
With rumors out about Xbox Scarlett being compatible with this concept of accessing games via a streaming service instead of having them downloaded, more news about xCloud would also be the perfect way to tell people more about upcoming next-gen consoles whilst explaining the nuts and bolts of how the service is going to work now that it's had a year to incubate.
There's definitely going to be a lot for fans to love at the Xbox E3 presentation this year; the sheer size of the show that Microsoft will be able to put on suggests that there's going to be something for everyone. With some of its most highly-anticipated titles ever already confirmed to appear along with exciting hardware and software news that the company has been teasing over the year, our expectations for Xbox are definitely high. With Sony out of the way, there's no reason why Microsoft shouldn't be able to deliver. For those on the ground or following along at home on Twitch, the Xbox E3 presentation is going to be on Sunday, June 9 at 1PM PT.
